In the construction of ships, it is usual to suspend ducts, pipes, wireways, light fixtures, and other items of equipment from the deck above, or from other overhead supporting surfaces, as well as to provide lateral support for some of these items of equipment from vertical bulkheads of the ship. Thus, vertical support for the item of equipment is provided by the overhead structure while lateral support is derived from the vertical bulkheads. In order to suspend the item of equipment the area desired, it is usual to employ a vertical downcomer of channel, angle, or tubular configuration, for example, which is cut to length and welded both to the overhead support and to the pipe or duct. Similarly, lateral support is usually provided by using a piece of similar material extending angularly between The duct pipe and the nearby vertical surfaces of a bulkhead. Again this lateral supporting member is cut to length and welded in place.
The long-accepted way of securing ducts: pipes, and other equipment in ships is very time-consuming, and requires the use of expensive and heavy welding equipment. During the construction of a ship, merely moving the heavy welding equipment from place to place in the construction environment of the ship is a great burden. Each support member must be measured and cut to length. Beyond the burden of time and effort needed to take the many measurements for the support members, to cut these support members, and to transport all these cut support members their place of installation, in the event that a mistake is made in measurement or cutting so that the support members are cut to the wrong length, additional waste labor, time and materials results.
Further to the above, it frequently is desirable to make fine-dimension adjustments in the vertical or laterial position of suspension for a duct or pipe in a ship. These adjustments may be desirable, for example, to line up successive lengths of a duct or pipe with one another, or to align such a duct or pipe run with a bulkhead opening. Understandably, plural fine-dimension adjustments of position along the length of a long pipe or duct can ease many alignment problems as successive sections of the duct or pipe run are installed. Understandably, misalignments can tend to be cumulative along a long length of duct or pipe run. In some cases, such adjustment is more than desirable, but is essential to correct gross misalignments or to avoid an interference of the pipe or duct with other immovable structure of the ship. The conventional welded support method of suspending such ducts and pipes makes such adjustments impossible. Consequently, when a situation of gross misalignment is encountered, drastic and expensive remedies are often required. In fact, on occasions of a gross misalignment of a pipe or duct with conventional welded supports, cutting loose previous welds and support members, and jacking or otherwise rigging the pipe or duct, back along its length, for example, could be required. On such an occasion, it is easy to imagine the cutting, rework and rewelding that might be required if such a remedial expedient is employed. The inefficiency, expense, and risk of very expensive rework in a construction environment presented by the conventional welded support suspension system for pipes and ducts makes this old technology undesirable.